Spatiotemporal Dynamics of Mixed Landolt Systems in Open Gel Reactors: Effect of Diffusive Feed

In this report we present an experimental study on the spatiotemporal dynamics of the iodate-sulfite-ferrocyanide and the iodate-sulfite-thiourea systems. Both systems are capable of producing nontrivial reaction-diffusion patterns when they are operated in a one-side-fed open spatial reactor. An important parameter of these types of reactors is the time scale of the diffusive feed, which is determined by the "thickness" of the gel and diffusion coefficients of the chemicals. A conical shape gel is used to study the effect of the thickness gradient on the dynamics. We show that spatiotemporal oscillations stop below a critical thickness. It is demonstrated that the period of the oscillations is determined by the time scale of the inhibitory kinetics and the time scale of the diffusive feed together. In the case of the iodate-sulfite-thiourea system we observed the appearance of a stationary iodine front in the presence of the oscillating pH front. An experimentally supported kinetic explanation is given to account this phenomena.